Bowman rancher dies in cattle-related accident in southwest ND

AMIDON, N.D. — A Bowman man died Monday following a cattle-related accident on a ranch here in Slope County.

Stanley Pope, 81, was pronounced dead at the scene after a head of cattle turned on him as he and his son were attempting to transport it at the family’s TP Ranch near Amidon around 8:30 a.m. Monday, Slope County Sheriff Pat Lorge said.

Leaving behind three sons, a daughter, one grandchild and two great-grandchildren, Stanley passed away a few months short of he and his wife Joan’s 60th wedding anniversary in September.

“I’m just numb right now,” Joan said Tuesday. “They were moving a cow and she decided to go after our son and him. The cow caught him in the leg, threw him over a fence and he landed on his head.”

Stanley and Joan moved to Bowman a number of years ago after transferring operations of the ranch to their sons, Joan said. Stanley had been a firefighter for years in Amidon and Bowman and was an accomplished pilot, said Joan.

“He will be missed,” Lorge said Tuesday. “He was a great guy.”

Joan called her husband “one heck of a pilot,” adding that Stanley got his pilot’s license in the 1950s.

“He loved to fly,” Joan said. “I always said that it would be either the ranch or the airplane that got him. It was just one of those feelings you have. I’m just numb — I didn’t even know (Stanley) had gone to the ranch. I was out having coffee and I heard the police scanner going off and from where they were telling the ambulance to go, I knew where they were. I didn’t know if it was my husband or one of our sons.”

Using his aviation skills, Stanley also helped local law enforcement agencies and was a deputy for the Slope County Sheriff’s Office until his passing, Joan said.